Nävsjön to Lilla Göljen, 20 km. Sörmlandsleden stage 35 and half of 34.

I begun the day by accidentally stepping on my favourite wooden cooking spoon and breaking it. I’m going to take it with me to dispose of it, but I don’t think there’s any saving it.

The trail continued its loop around lake Nävsjön. The lake is a popular fishing spot, with “planted” rainbow trout, rental boats, and convenient fishing spots all around. How can you tell a fishing spot from a picnic spot? The fishing spot has an extra small table with a bucket, for cleaning the fish.

Apparently not all of the Sörmlandsleden trail is in Sörmland – sections 33 and 34 are mostly in Östergötland.

The usual kind of walking in the usual kinds of surroundings. Mossy bits and rocky bits and lots of pine. Probably plenty of bilberries and lingonberries later in the season.

No shortage of wellsprings around here, and also no shortage of water in them. We’ve had some decent rain recently so the groundwater levels are good.

Lunchtime came, with the usual struggles to find a suitable stopping place. I went into someone’s grassy field to get enough room to cook lunch. It was fenced in, but there were no animals and no work ongoing, so it should be OK.

The afternoon had some more boring walking. Stage 34 is described as being all uninhabited forests. And yeah, a gravel road doesn’t count as human habitation, but still, not exactly wilderness.

I reached the shelter at Lilla Göljet at five o’clock. Rain had been imminent for a while already, and it finally started raining for real just as I passed a sign 200 metres before the shelter. I normally keep walking until later than this – stopping at five means an awful lot of evening just sitting around – but this time I let the weather make the decision for me. The forecast promised rain all night. The tent is waterproof but I would still have ended up putting it up in the rain, cooking dinner in the rain, and then carrying a wet tent tomorrow.

The shelter was empty when I got there. I made myself comfortable in the corner with the best views. Half an hour later, more people arrived. In pairs, even, which meant near-constant talking between them. They weren’t any more chatty than any other normal people would be, but I had imagined being here in the quiet on my own.

On the other hand, one of those people immediately decided that we needed a fire. Which was very cosy. I know how to make a fire but somehow it just didn’t seem worth the effort, just for me. So that was nice.